The General Assembly reconvened on Feb. 5, to a full agenda of committee meetings, the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth Address and the passage of several important pieces of legislation, including Senate Bill 2, the public employee pension reform bill.

With a multibillion dollar deficit, it appears there was little the U.S. Postal Service could do to thwart its plan to discontinue Saturday mail delivery.
The Postal Service announced last week that beginning in August, mail would be delivered to homes and businesses only Monday through Friday, but would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices would remain open on Saturdays.
The cutback is expected to save the agency $2 billion annually.

Americans are good at a lot of things but one trait that seems to run through most of our history is the ability to turn a bad situation to our advantage through innovation and a willingness to look outside the box.
The weak economy and the deterioration of the tobacco market has opened the door for Kentucky farmers to once again start raising hemp as a lucrative cash crop.

It’s what they call a short session at the General Assembly.
Since the state’s legislature started holding annual meetings instead of every two years, the odd numbered years have been limited to 30 days instead of 90.
The state faces a lot of problems and 30 days doesn’t seem like a lot of time to address them in any realistic way.

I’m great at making New Year’s resolutions.
I stink at keeping New Year’s resolutions.
Almost every year, I publicly proclaim that I will do this or that or stop doing that thing I shouldn’t be doing in the first place.
And each year, it seems like I make a long list of resolutions just to watch them fall by the wayside either by apathy, personal weakness or my unyielding opposition to change.
Of the six resolutions I made last year, I managed to keep three of them.

A few weeks ago, a gentleman came into our offices and complained about the metal detectors, guards and updated security at the Owen County Judicial Center.
“We don’t need all that here. This is Owen County. Things like that don’t happen around here,” he said.
In light of Friday’s senseless tragedy that took the lives of 20 children at an elementary school, those comments played over and over in my head this past weekend.
I wonder if the people of Newtown, Conn. thought the same thing?

This was supposed to be the Thanksgiving I got a break.
This was supposed to be the first time in decades that I sat back and let Thanksgiving come to me instead of me packing up and hitting the highway for dinner with my family.
My oldest nephew, who is stationed in Afghanistan, is home on leave and requested that Thanksgiving be held at our house instead of Corbin or London where most of my wife’s family is from.

The ways things are going, in the next few years, the Disney company is going to own the rights to my mom and dad, the Evel Knievel bike I got for my 11th birthday and my aunt’s favorite fishing hole down by the dam beside her old house outside of Sadieville.
A few years ago, Disney bought Marvel Comics and got the rights to all their characters. Although some film studios retained the rights to make movies from some of the characters, eventually Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and all the rest will become “Disney-fied.”

Editor’s Note: Veterans Day is an appropriate time for us to recall the sacrifices made by those serving and who had served in our armed forces. To mark this occasion, the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum in Dana, Indiana, and Scripps Howard Foundation have allowed us to reprint of Pyle’s most famous column “The Death of Capt. Waskow.” It’s a reminder to all of the ultimate sacrifice made by so many Americans to maintain the freedoms we enjoy.

Throughout these difficult economic times, school boards are forced to take drastic measures to reduce deficits caused by a lack of federal and state funding. When trying to balance the budget, a school system really only has two options, either reduce the amount of expenditures or produce additional revenue.
Across the commonwealth, many school boards are considering the possibility of a property-tax increase as a way to provide additional revenue to meet the educational needs of its students. For districts like Owen County without much industry, this is the only recourse.

“I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This
can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever
the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.”
President Obama
Address to Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009

June and July are National Fireworks Safety Month.
Rick Morgan, Owen County EM Director, would like to advise the public on the safe and responsible use of consumer fireworks so as to eliminate injuries.
Review these safety tips:
• Use fireworks outdoors only.
• Obey local laws.
• If fireworks are not legal where you live, do not use them.
• Always have water handy (a hose or buckets of water).

Starting up a small business is hard enough.
Countless hours of planning and many sleepless nights will be spent when a person decides to chase their dream and build something out of nothing.
It’s part of the American dream.
It doesn’t help when people are our to take advantage of you.

We tried, Coach Cal.
Thanks for the effort, Michael.
I appreciate it, Anthony.
You guys kept up your end of the deal.
But unfortunately, it didn’t take.

Last week, I shared my secret shame - my daughter is a Louisville Cardinal fan.
Like a parent ushering their kid to rehab, I hoped that she would see the error of her ways by exposing her to a better way - The Way of The Wildcat.
I had hoped that Saturday night’s Final Four showdown between Kentucky and Louisville would snap her back to her senses.

Nothing has hit me quite this hard since that fall morning in 2007, the morning I got in my car and turned on the radio to hear Porter Wagoner’s classic “Green, Green Grass Of Home.” I had assured myself that since I was starting my day off with Porter, it was sure to be a red letter day. As the last few notes of the song drifted off the airwaves, the DJ’s voice was solemn as he announced that one of country music’s last great gems had died.

It’s no secret that divorce can have a terrible impact on children. Some kids act out, get in trouble with the law or start hanging around the wrong crowd.
This new crowd may lead to terrible changes in their behavior or world viewpoint.
This happened to my own daughter Elizabeth.
After our separation, Elizabeth moved to Louisville to live with her mom. I stayed in the bluegrass area.
She quickly fell into the wrong crowd and that moment most fathers around here dread happening happened.
She became a Cardinals fan.